How did Paula B. Pace Get Fired From Her Teaching Job in Conrad, Iowa?

By Lynn A. Granata

Paula Baniszewski age 17 at Sylvia's trial in 1966.

The Paula saga continues.   I will keep on digging up information about the Likens Case, because it is still a hot topic even 50 years after it happened.  Did you know that this author was only a year old when all this rift-raft was taking place? Neither one of my parents have ever heard of the Likens case. I know my dad would have been appalled and would have wanted to save Sylvia. 

Unfortunately, we lived miles away from where this grisly crime occurred. Rhode Island is quite a-ways from Indiana, and news media outlets weren't like they are today. If you lived in RI, there was a good chance you would have never known about news taking place half way across the country, but other notable news at the time, such as the Vietnam War, you would hear about simultaneously. International news stories were globally covered by the large news consultants like the Associated Press. But local news going on in another state was handled by that particular area of the country's own local news channels. 

They went by order of notoriety.  Today, of course you have 24/7 news conglomerates such as CNN which goes constantly. Cable television and the internet have made it possible to know what is going on in even the most remote areas of the world. And as far as myself is concerned, I didn't even know about the case until at least 2011. So, news can be become viral in the flick of an instant.  50 years after the Likens case proves that it can.

Paula was fired from the Beaman-Conrad-Liscomb-Union-Whitten school district.  There she was employed as a teacher's aid living in Marshalltown, Iowa. The consolidated school district's board unanimously voted at their monthly meeting to fire Pace, 64, for  lying under false pretenses about information reported on her job application.

"She was a sweet lady (who) helped out any student she could that came into her classroom," recalled Thaddeus Lawler, 27, who was tutored by Pace while he was a student at BCLUW High School. "She'd changed a lot from her past. She was a totally different person." http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/24/teacher-aide-secret-past-unearthed/1654301/

The Grundy County Sheriff's office received an anonymous tip on October 17, 2012.  The school district promptly reviewed the tip and decided that Pace had to go. Pace was employed as a teacher's aid since 1998. At the time, Pace was able to fly under the radar only because back in 1998, they didn't conduct background checks on teacher's aids. Various comments were made in regard to her termination by parents and peers that knew her during her teaching tenure. 

 Most have expressed gratitude that she was a good and caring teacher who would help any student who came into her classroom. Others wondered how she could have landed a career as a teacher's aid if she had murder on her record. But the vast majority does still think that she shouldn't be employed around children.  I AGREE.

Reference

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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/24/teacher-aide-secret-past-unearthed/1654301/